peru number 3.

have you ever experienced one of those moments where your eyes began to hurt because of the pressure you have put on them in attempts to soak in every aspect of your surroundings into your cornias? where you even get pissed because you have to blink? but then you are quickly reminded of your humanity and submit to the pain you are experiencing, only for a very brief moment though. your eyes open and refreshment fills your soul once again becasue of the beauty you continue to find yourself immersed in. the best part about these sort of moments, is that the enjoyment almost never ceases while experiencing them. somehow, God decided to bless me with one of these moments this past weekend. the church took a mission trip to a tribe 6 hours into the jungle (yes, i did say jungle) from thursday to saturday. we all packed onto 3 boats like sardines and made way for our desitnation. you would think that i would have wanted to sleep, simply because i had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before due to last minute preparation for teaching. however, God decided to bless me with some of the most beautiful sites i have ever seen. you would think the same site would get boring after 6 hours, yet i do not think i could have looked at the beautiful trees and scenery any less. thankful for a God who is creator of heaven and earth.

the 3 days in the jungle were exausting, amazing, challenging, sweaty, and above all God glorifying. we ended up having a conference at the village we spent the weekend with where about 200 people gathered (some people from the tribe and the rest from the church in iquitos). the weekend was filled with a ton of futbol (which, yes, i am still terrible at. and the peruvians love pointing that out), food, a wedding (yup, my 2nd wedding to attend in the middle of the jungle), baptism of new believers (freaking awesome), worship, and a lot of teaching. one of the coolest aspects of the weekend was the fact that a couple of the stand out leaders in the young adult group came on the trip (alber, gret, caesar, jose, carla, and a few others). it was a great opportunity for our relationship to grow as the trip provided much time for laughter and conversation. i thought i was going to be preaching 4 times, but it it only ended up being twice. i was super stoked about the opportunity to steward Gods word and proclaim it to such a large group of people in such a memorable environment. of course, i was nervous because of the translator barrier, but i was looking forward to experiencing a demonstration of the Spirits power. the pastor asked me to share what it means to be a disciple and what biblical discipleship is. like i said, i was stoked. round one comes up and i stand up in the front of this makeshift pavillion with palm tree leaves as the roof, (may i remind you that i am in the middle of the jungle and i have beautiful scenery ALL around me), and not even 2 minutes into the sermon a woman about 3 rows back, dead center, plops out her uhhuh (sorry for tmi) and starts breastfeeding her infant. i laugh. almost stop mid sentence to make light of the situation, like (you really think he is that hungry, RIGHT NOW?). then i silently told myself, (not i, but christ). i again, silently laughed, at my sarcasm of course, and continued on. on a serious note, i am so thankful for the opportunity to share what God had laid on my heart about discipleship. i reminded the people that being a disciple requires radical abandoment and great cost, yet we are radically dependent upon Gods grace throughout the process, which yields a great reward in our lives. we get God. a real, living, and intimate relationship with God. thankfully, no children were hungry during the 2nd sermon. i shared with the peruvians that through making disciples we must share the word, show the word, and teach the word. i insisted that discipleship is the greatest need in the world and that we are building people, not an institution. let me tell you, i did not feel confident in myself at all after sharing both of these messages. it truly was of those times i had to completely depend upon the spirits work in and through me to proclaim the word. after the 2nd sermon, my friend gret wanted me to pray for him, simply because he desired more fellowship and intimacy with the Lord. i am thankful for a God that desires intimacy with us and is strong when we are weak. i am also thankful for the word, an amazing faith family that is fervently praying for me and supplying me with resources to teach on, and also for other sermons in which helped provide useful tools for the teaching. overall, the weekend truly was a blessing. i am thankful for what the Lord taught me and the relationships he built with the community i find myself immerssed in at this moment.

other moments this past week that will forever be engrained on my heart…conversation with alicia over lunch as she confessed that everyone in her family has decided to pursue the world rather than Christ, conversation with piedro (a 17 year old boy in the youth group) about his parents divorce and the hope we have in Christ as our foundation of life. playing tag with about 30 kids in the jungle (somehow, they always thought i was it). having dinner with daniel and his family last night and they continued to tell me how grateful they were that i was apart of their community. praying over a woman who was having a lot of trouble breathing out of her nose on saturday and then asking her how she felt on sunday and she smiled contagiously and pointed to her nose and then gave me a thumbs up. sharing ephesians 2 8 with a catholic girl today at joses school and seeing her ponder for a bit about what that meant. we serve a great god who graciously meets us right where we are.

so i am 13 days into this journey and i have to be honest…this has been truly 13 of the most blessed, challenging, worshipfilled, and humbling days of my life. i am blessed as i continually am being stretched by the Lord in new ways as i depend more and more with each new day that comes. i am challenged simply because of the lack of verbal communication i am able to have in most of my interactions with those around me. i am learning that God has the ability to move despite language barriers. i am challenged in learning that this is a different culture, in that their value of time and sense of urgency is quite different. praying for patience and grace to lead my every thought and action. i am challenged because of the lack of comfort and not having any of my friends from back home here with me. but i am thankful that God has not called us to comfort but to a cross and that he does not leave us as orphans but provides his spirit to depend upon. i find myself distracted sometimes as i miss aspects of home, but then quickly remind myself to be where i am. in fact, every morning, i write on my hand (be where you are) as a constant reminder to give everything i have to the people in this community. i am humbled simply because i do not know how to even respond in most situations except pull out my dictionary and say gracias para tu paciencia (even you can tell what that means). i am moved to worship because of the way i have experienced Gods strength during my weakeness and desperation. i am moved to worship because of the relationships i see Him at work in in building on a daily basis. i am in awe of Gods work so far and so thankful He has brought me to this place to be stretched and build a stronger relationship with our partner church here in iquitos.

please continue to be in prayer as i am consistently learning how to interact with this community, what my role is, and how to make most of every opportunity to share the Gospel in word and deed. pray for joses wife (i just found out through text message that she broke her leg earlier today), pray that i would continually be in a place of desperation for Gods presence, and also pray that i would get better at futbol just to avoid the mockery next sunday. thank you again for journeying through this trip with me. and also, next tuesday i will be online from about 2 to 6 and if you want to skype or get on facebook chat, that would be pretty awesome. also, i would love to hear about how life is going back in the states so please send me updates! thankful for all of you.

(so we do not lose heart. though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. for this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of lgory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal) 2 corinthians 4 16 to18.

for his glory,

bubba

also, i tried to attach a picture of some friends from this past weekend…hope it worked!

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